Search form

Eastern District of North Carolina

Due to the lapse in appropriations, Department of Justice websites will not be regularly updated. The Department’s essential law enforcement and national security functions will continue. Please refer to the Department of Justice’s contingency plan for more information.

Justice News

Federal Jury Finds Man Guilty of Sex Trafficking of A Minor

NEW BERN– The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Robert J. Higdon, Jr., announced that today, a federal jury in New Bern found WILLIAM MAURICE SADDLER guilty of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor and sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and of a minor.

SADDLER was named in an Indictment on October 5, 2016 that included four other codefendants who previously pled guilty. SADDLER was found guilty of Counts One and Two in the indictment.

The evidence presented at trial showed: The victim was fifteen years old. He began a dating and then a sexual relationship with her. One day, SADDLER gave her crack, took her to a Mexican migrant camp near Wilson, North Carolina, and forced her to prostitute. After that, SADDLER took her to Mexican migrant camps near Wilson numerous times to prostitute. SADDLER abused and threatened the victim when she said that she did not want to prostitute.

At sentencing, SADDLER faces a maximum sentence of not less than 15 years in prison up to life imprisonment and a fine of up to $500,000.

Investigation of this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Raleigh Police Department, the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation, the Wilson Police Department and the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Erin C. Blondel and Eleanor Morales represented the United States.